A number of land or crop management decisions rely on knowing an accurate percent ground cover present in a field. Traditionally, the percent ground cover in a field has been calculated manually by the “transect method,” which involves identifying a boundary defining an area in the field, placing a tape measure, string, or similar object on the ground within the boundary, counting the amount of residue that lies below the placed object, and using the count to estimate the percent ground cover for the defined area. The transect method typically involves a rope with evenly spaced knots, and a user counts the number of times ground cover occurs directly below a knot to estimate the percent ground cover. As this method can be time consuming or inaccurate, an improved method for calculating the percent ground cover in a field is desired.